– Tasmiya Shaikh
S.Y. B.Sc. – Vasco, Goa
A library is a place to find answers to all your problems and a key where your imagination flows. A library is not only for a certain age group of people or for certain elite people, but it is for each one of us. It’s a place where we get to be someone else for a few hours just by reading a simple story, where we get to learn and understand people from our past and compare them with people today, where we get to understand our own feelings and how we need to behave with others as well.
A library is the start of a disciplined life. Even the smallest amount of reading can get a person to be peaceful. A study by the University of Sussex demonstrated that six minutes of silent reading can reduce stress levels by 68 per cent. In fact, reading works better and faster than other methods such as listening to music, going for a walk, or sitting down for a relaxing cuppa. Yet, the number of libraries in a city or a state is very less, and resources are not as profound as they seem to be.
It’s very important that we, as neighbours or as citizens, introduce a library in our neighbourhood so that everyone gets a chance to read and understand the importance of education and knowledge. According to the latest data from the Raja Rammohun Roy Library Foundation, Union Ministry of Culture, it was revealed that the number of public libraries in India has increased from 27,682 in 2019 to an impressive 46,768.
Therefore, the number of libraries must increase in the upcoming years so that the country grows to be more educated. Hence, there is an acute need for libraries in our neighbourhood, in view of the fact that there might be students who want to visit the library desperately but are not able to visit one since it might be in some other city or another locality. Consequently, as a reader, the library must be easily accessible to the people of that locality or city.
A library is not a recent thing; this has evolved from way back, that is, in the 7th century. The oldest known library at that time was assembled by Ashurbanipal, King of the Assyrians, between 668 and 631 BCE. It was located in his royal palace in Nineveh (in present-day northern Iraq, near Mosul), which included some 30,000 clay tablets inscribed with cuneiform writing.
In a famous quote said by Frederick Douglass, “Once you learn to read, you will be forever free.” From this quote, what I do understand is that when we read, we become stress-free, and thus reading reduces a lot of stress and provides relaxation, which in turn also reduces blood pressure levels. This quote also tells us that once you read, you are no longer in one place; you get to visit so many other places and be so many other individuals just by reading about them or by reading a certain story. It’s like you’re free from being you for those few hours of reading.
As neighbours or citizens, we must revive library culture in our neighbourhood so that more and more people get a chance to read and gain knowledge easily, with libraries being one of the only places where knowledge can be gained very easily, and in view of today’s world, it is of the utmost importance.
To summarise everything, it is important that we enhance the reading culture in our neighbourhood through building up easily accessible libraries for the general public, as libraries are not just buildings filled with books but living spaces that nurture imagination, discipline, and lifelong learning, which promote mental peace, reduce stress, and make knowledge accessible to people of all ages and backgrounds.
